Hinged handle assembly

ABSTRACT

A HINGED HANDLE ASSEMBLY IS DISCLOSED IN WHICH THE ENDS OF A HAND GRIP ARE CONNECTED BY PIVOTS TO UPRIGHTS ON SUPPORTS ATTACHED TO A WALL OF AN OBJECT. EACH UPRIGHT HAS A CHAMBER THROUGH WHICH THE CONNECTING PIVOT EXTENDS AND TO WHICH THE INNER END OF A COIL SPRING IS CONNECTED. THE OTHER END OF THE SPRING IS ATTACHED TO THE UPRIGHT AND THE SPRINGS URGE THE GRIP INTO AN INOPERATIVE POSITION RELATIVE TO THE WALL. THE UPRIGHT HAS A SHOULDER AND THE END PORTIONS OF THE GRIP AND THE SHOULDERS HAVING PORTIONS ENGAGEABLE TO LIMIT THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE GRIP MAY BE SWUNG BOTH WITH AND AGAINST THE SPRING ACTION.

Feb; 16; 1971 D. c. BRAYSHAW HINGED HANDLE ASSEMBLY 2 Sheets-Sheet lFiled May 1, 1969 INVENTOR DONALD c. BRAYSHAW ATTORNEY Feb. 16, 1971 Dc, BRAYSHAW 3,562,849

HINGED HANDLE ASSEMBLY Fi led May 1, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 d7 All lH X kFIG. 5 FIG. 6

. INVENTOR DONALD C. BRAYSHAW FIG. 7

ATTORNEY "United States Patent ()ffice 3,562,849 Patented Feb. 16, 19713,562,849 HINGED HANDLE ASSEMBLY Donald C. Brayshaw, 206 Eustis St.,Roxbury, Mass. 02119 Filed May 1, 1969, Ser. No. 820,977 Int. Cl. A47b95/02; Eb 1/100 US. Cl. 16126 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Ahinged handle assembly is disclosed in which the ends of a hand grip areconnected by pivots to uprights on supports attached to a wall of anobject. Each upright has a chamber through which the connecting pivotextends and to which the inner end of a coil spring is connected. Theother end of the spring is attached to the upright and the springs urgethe grip into an inoperative position relative to the wall. The uprighthas a. shoulder and the end portions of the grip and the shouldershaving portions engageable to limit the extent to which the grip may beswung both with and against the spring action.

The present invention relates to hinged handle assemblies.

The advantages of having a hinged handle yieldably biased into aninoperative position have been recognized but have not been freelyrealized, particularly when strength, long life, and compact gripsupports are requirements.

The principal objective of the invention is to provide hand gripassemblies that will meet the above generally stated requirements, anobjective attained by providing supports attached to a wall of an objectand having an upright and a shoulder at its bottom projecting from oneend face. End portions of the hand grip carry fixed pivots rotatablysupported by the upright and at least one of the uprights has a chamberopening through its other face through which the pivot extends that issupported by that upright. A coil spring within the chamber anchored tothe pivot and to that upright, yieldably urges the hand grip into aninoperative position relative to the wall and the end portions of thehand grip and the shouders have surfaces that are mutually engageable tolimit the extent to which the hand grip may be swung both with andagainst the action of the springs.

In the accompanying drawings, there is shown an embodiment of theinvention illustrative of these and other of its objectives, novelfeatures, and advantages.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a handle assembly in accordance with theinvention,

FIG. 2 is an exploded view and on an increased scale, of the connectionbetween one end portion of the grip and one of the supports,

FIG. 3 is a view of one of the end supports with the closure of itschamber removed to show the spring with the grip inoperativelypositioned thereby,

FIG. 4 is a like view but with the grip positioned for use,

FIG. 5 is a view showing the relationship between an end portion of thegrip and the shoulder of the support With the grip inoperativelypositioned,

FIG. 6 is a like view showing that relationship when the grip ispositioned for use, and

FIG. 7 is a section taken approximately along the lines 77 of FIG. 1.

In the drawings, a fragment of a wall of a case, drawer, or other objectis indicated at .10 to which supports for a hand grip are secured, thesupports being generally indicated at 11 and the grip being generallyindicated at 12 and shown as U-shaped.

Each support .11 is shown as having an attaching stud 13 depending fromits flat bottom surface 14 and extending through the wall 10 andanchored by a transverse pin 15 hearing against a washer 16 interposedbetween it and the wall 10. Each support includes an upright 17 having acircular chamber 18 opening through One end face and a bottom shoulder19 extending in the opposite direction. The shoulder 19 and the end faceof the upright .17 proximate thereto are plane surfaces and disposed atright angles to each other. It is preferred that the supports 11 bedisposed with their chambers 18 opening toward each other.

The end portions 20 of the grip 12 are parallel and spaced apart toreceive the supports 11 between them. The end portions 20 carry fixedpivots 21, each rotatably supported by the proximate upright 17 andextending axially through its chamber 18. The free end of each pivot 21has an end slot 22 to slidably receive and hold the inner end 23 of acoil spring 24 whose outer end terminates in a hook 25 caught on a pin26 fixed within the chamber 18. The spring is tensioned when installedto yieldably hold the grip 12 in its inoperative position in which, seeFIGS. 1 and 5 the edge 27 of each end portion 20 rests against theappropriate shoulder 19. As may best be seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, each pin26 is located in vertical alignment with the axis of the pivots 21 andthe pivots have their slots 22 in alignment therewith when the grip 12is inoperatively positioned to ensure that, in the assembled handles,the springs function uniformly.

Washers 28 and 29 are supported by each pivot 21, one washer 28 betweeneach end portion 20 and the proximate face of the support 11 to which itis connected and one washer 29 between each spring 24 and the end wallof its chamber 18. Each pivot 21 has an annular groove adjacent its freeend to hold a keeper 3.1 against the recessed margin 32 of the chamber18 by which a cover disc 33 is detachably held.

As may best be seen in FIGS. 5 and 6, the edge 27 of each grip endportion 20 has a rounded junction 34 with the extremity 35 thereofenabling the grip 12 to be swung into an operative positionapproximately at right angles to the support 10 before the extremity 35butts against the shoulder 19.

It will thus be apparent that hinged handle assemblies meet a wide rangeof requirements ensuring satisfactory service with the convenience of ahandle yieldably and securely held in an inoperative position.

I claim:

1. A hinged handle assembly comprising a pair of end supports forattachment to a wall of an object, each support including an upright anda shoulder projecting laterally from the bottom thereof, the proximateend face of the upright and the shoulder being plane surfaces anddisposed at right angles to each other, a grip including end portionshaving parallel faces spaced and disposed so that each may lie close tothe appropriate one of said first named end faces, a pivot fast on eachend portion of the grip rotatably supported by the proximate upright, atleast one upright having a chamber opening through a face opposite theshoulder into which the pivot supported by that upright extends, a coilspring in said chamber fastened at its outer end to a chamber wall andat its inner end to said pivot and urging the hand grip into aninoperative position relative to the wall, at least one end portion ofthe hand grip and the proximate shoulder including surfaces engageableto limit the extent to which the hand grip may be swung in at least onedirection.

3 2. The hinged handle assembly of claim 1 in which both uprights have achamber, a coil spring is in each chamber with its outer end fastened toa chamber wall and its inner end fastened to the pivot extendingtherein. 3. The hinged handle assembly of claim 1 in which at least oneend portion of the hand grip and the proximate shoulder include surfacesengageable to limit the extent to which the hand grip may be swung inthe other direction.

4. The hinged handle assembly of claim 1 in which each end portion ofthe hand grip and the shoulder of the upright to which it is attachedincludes surfaces engageable to limit the extent to which the hand gripmay be swung in either direction.

5. The assembly of claim 2 in which the chambers open towards eachother.

6. The assembly of claim 1 in which the pivot extends through thechamber of the support to which it is attached, a cover has a holethrough which the pivot also extends and which is engageable with theupright to close the chamber, and a fastener on the free end of eachpivot holds the cores in its chamber closing position.

7. The assembly of claim 6 in which the face of the upright throughwhich the chamber opens has a recess marginally of the chamber insupport of the margins of the cover.

8. The assembly of claim 4 in which the extremity of each end portion ofthe grip is engageable with the shoulder of the support to which it isconnected when the grip is operatively positioned and an edge portionengageable with that shoulder when the grip is inoperatively positionedand the junction between that edge and the extremity is rounded therebyto enable the grip to swing from one position to the other.

9. The assembly of claim 1 in which the width of each shoulder issubstantially equal to the thickness of the upright above the shoulderand of the end portion of the grip connected thereto.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,254,506 9/1941 Wheary, Ir 16126BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner D. L. TROUTMAN, Assistant Examiner

